Not Applicable
Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bird feeding, in particular a method and apparatus for training non-domesticated birds to accept bird feed from a hand of a person.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Bird feeding is a popular activity which attracts wild birds, such as chickadees, nuthatches, and the like, in viewing range for the enjoyment of the individuals providing the bird food and others. Typically, birds are fed from a bird feeder comprised of a container containing a large quantity of food, such as bird seed, and the birds swoop down on the bird feeder to retrieve the seed. Individuals watching the activity remain a distance away from the feeder to avoid scaring the birds away.
Certain individuals, however, prefer to become more involved in the bird feeding activity, by training the birds to retrieve food directly from the individual""s hand. Typically, to train a bird to eat from ahuman hand, an individual must first determine the normal feeding pattern for birds feeding from a bird feeder. Then on the first day of training, the individual stands very still about 20 feet from the bird feeder, while the birds are retrieving food from the feeder. Each day thereafter, the individual moves closer and closer to the feeder, until the individual is right next to the feeder, and the birds continue to retrieve food from the feeder.
When the individual feels that the time is right, the bird feeder is emptied, covered, or removed from the area during the normal feeding period, the individual holds a tray or plate containing bird food. After a period of time, the birds should retrieve food from the tray. Once the birds are comfortable retrieving food from the tray, the individual places the bird food directly in their hand, and the birds should retrieve the food directly from the individual""s hand. This prior art method is very time consuming, and requires the individual to stand motionless for long periods of time.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for training birds to retrieve food from a user""s hand without requiting the user to stand motionless for long periods over the course of many days. The apparatus is a bird feeding trainer including a stand up display for supporting an article of clothing, and an arm extending from the display. A horizontal presentment platform mounted to a distal end of the arm can hold food for presentment to an animal.
The birds are trained using the apparatus to eat out of a hand of a user by presenting food for a bird in the bird feeding trainer having an article of clothing attached thereto until the birds regularly accepts feed from the trainer. The user takes the place of the trainer by removing the article of clothing from the trainer, and putting on the clothes, and presenting food for the birds in the user""s hand.
A general objective of the present invention is to train birds to eat out of a user""s hand without requiring standing motionless for long periods of time over the course of many days. This objective is accomplished by providing a bird feeding trainer and method which trains birds to retrieve food from the trainer as a precursor to retrieving bird food from the user""s hand.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a trainer which can easily be shipped to a user. This objective is accomplished by providing a bird feeding trainer formed from a sheet material which can be shipped in an unassembled configuration.
The foregoing and other advantages of the invention will appear from the following description. In this description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and in which there is shown by way of illustration preferred embodiments of the invention. These embodiments do not represent the full scope of the invention. Thus, the claims should be looked to in order to judge the scope of the invention.